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on april 28, 2004, the american news program 60 minutes ii broadcast a story about abuse of prisoners by u s military personnel at a prison in abu gharib, iraq, which had been taken over by u s forces after the fall of saddam husseiin’s government. on this program, and in many subsequent media stories, photographs taken by american soldiers themselves, showing the prisoners being humiliated and abused, often in a sexual manner, and often by female soldiers, and with the soldiers smiling and laughing, were spread worldwide.
u s secretary of defense donald rumsfeld, and other high ranking american officials, civilian and military, expressed dismay, and some of the soldiers involved were later tried and convicted of various charges. one served six and a half years in prison, another four years, a third 18 months, and eight others less than a year.
in september, kim entered junior high school. she made the acquaintance of d’sheena nelson, an overweight african-american girl who wore coke bottle glasses, and like kim, seemed to have no close friends. d’sheens expressed a lively curiosity about kim’s origins and ancestry.
“where you from, china?”
kim explained that she was a korean orphan. d’sheena absorbed this information, and returned the following day.
“my mama say you eat dogs.”
“excuse me?’
“you korean, my mama say you eat dogs. you calling my mama a liar?’
“i don’t know what you eat, but whatever it is, you must be eating plenty of it.”
d’sheena shoved kim, kim knocked d’sheena’s glasses off her face, and they went at it. the fight was broken up, and both girls were suspended for two days.
on december 26, a earthquake occurred off the north coast of sumatra, triggering a series of tsunamis that killed over 200,000 people and displaced over 1,000,000, mostly in indonesia and sri lanka. casualties extended as far as the east coast of africa.
42. 2005
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